Doctors Fired For Declaring Newborn 'Dead' After Incident Sparks Outrage

Two doctors were fired Sunday from a hospital in Delhi, India, for mistakenly declaring a newborn dead. Outrage sparked after the baby was found to be alive while on the way to his own funeral.

The incident took place in a private facility called Max Hospital on Nov. 30 when doctors declared the baby and his twin dead and handed their bodies to the parents in a plastic bag. While taking the babies for cremation, the family found one of them squirming inside the plastic bag. The two doctors were identified as Dr. A.P. Mehta and Dr. Vishal Gupta. The Delhi Police registered a case of attempt to culpable homicide against the hospital.

Announcing the termination of the two doctors, the privately run hospital said in a statement, "This strict action has been taken on the basis of our initial discussions with experts."

"While the inquiry by the expert group which includes external experts from Indian Medical Association (IMA) is still in process, we have decided to terminate the services of the two treating doctors," the hospital added. "We wish to clarify that this action should not presuppose finding of any lapse by the expert group and should not be construed in any way to be anything other than an expression of our continued commitment to providing quality healthcare."

Earlier, the hospital said two experts from IMA were included in the investigation team set up by the Max Healthcare authorities. A government inquiry into the incident is currently underway. The Delhi Medical Council, the statutory body that investigates cases of medical negligence in the capital, said it would also probe the incident. Jagat Prakash Nadda, the minister of health and family welfare, on Saturday condemned the incident, saying: “Very unfortunate incident, have asked the Delhi government to look into the matter and take necessary action. I appeal to the states to adopt the Clinical Establishments Act so that regulatory authorities are operative and can see working and functioning of private institutions.”

New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter on Friday to confirm the investigation while the state Health Minister Satyendra Jain described the incident as "shocking criminal negligence." Jain also warned of canceling the hospital's license, if it continued with the negligence.

According to a local report, a police complaint was also filed against the hospital alleging that the doctors demanded $77,000 for keeping the surviving baby in the nursery till it was out of danger. The father of the twins said in the formal complaint that the hospital told him that the foetuses his six-month pregnant wife was carrying had only 10-15 percent chances of survival.

In another incident last month, Fortis Hospital in Gurugram, a city close to the Indian capital of New Delhi, came under fire after the parents of a 7-year-old girl, who died of dengue, accused it for wrongly charging a whopping $24,602 for the treatment of the child.